Potential

Together, we aim to establish personalized, regenerative treatments as the primary standard of care. Our goal is to help the millions of patients suffering from seriously debilitating diseases to regain control of their lives by offering them minimally invasive, low-risk treatments for the regeneration of skeletal muscle tissue. Our lead indication is stress urinary incontinence in women, and we are working to bring a cure to the more than 150 million women worldwide who suffer from this highly debilitating condition.

Project Description

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a highly prevalent and underdiagnosed disorder that affects over 200 million people worldwide. It has a severe impact on physical and psychological health, and imposes a high financial burden on affected individuals, healthcare systems, and society.

Women are affected twice as often as men, with an estimated 40% of women above the age of 40 suffering from SUI. Existing treatment options have drawbacks that range from low and short-term efficacy, in the case of conservative treatments, to potentially serious adverse events associated either with invasiveness or the introduction of foreign material, in the case of more potent surgical approaches.

MUVON is developing a low-risk, minimally invasive treatment that uses the patient’s own muscle precursor cells (MPC) to regenerate the damaged sphincter muscle, thus potentially providing a cure for SUI.

Before MUVON was founded, the team worked in the associate project MUS.I.C. to establish and validate its GMP-compliant production process at Wyss Zurich. This project was then moved to a clinical setting at the beginning of 2020, and a Phase I clinical trial was conducted. The MUVON team will now proceed with the clinical and commercial development of its therapy, evaluating the efficacy of the approach during a Phase II clinical trial and completing all activities required for regulatory approval.

Contact

Deana Mohr
Project Leader
deana.mohr@wysszurich.ch

Deana mohr portrait

Faculty Mentor

Daniel Eberli

Portrait MUVON mentor eberli 560

Partners and Funding

Project Partners

  • University Hospital Zurich
  • University of Zurich, BioEntrpreneurship & Innovation (BEI) Program
  • University of Zurich, Translational Medicine Accelerator

Funding Partners

  • UZH Entrepreneur Fellowship
  • EU Horizon 2020
  • Innosuisse
  • Lichtsteiner Foundation
  • Venturelab
  • Werner Siemens Foundation

Achievements

01/2025
Continuation of Phase II clinical study

The International Data Safety Monitoring Board has recommended study continuation of the SUISSE MPC2 study, putting MUVON on track for the release of the final data from the completed phase 2 study in Q3 2025. Read more.

09/2024
Ranked 18 at TOP100 Swiss Startup Award 2024

09/2023
'Female Innovator of the Year' Award 2023

The "Female Innovator of the Year" award sponsored by BMW went to Jenny Prange (CTO) and Deana Mohr (CEO) from MUVON Therapeutics AG. Read more.

07/2022
Collaboration with WFIPP

MUVON Therapeutics AG enters partnership and collaboration with the World Federation of Incontinence and Pelvic Problems (WFIPP). Read more.

05/2022
Winner of Pitching Battle at STARTUPDAYS 2022

MUVON Therapeutics AG wins the Pitching Battle in the category Healthtech at the STARTUPDAYS 2022. Read more.

01/2023
Finalist for ZKB Pionierpreis 2023

MUVON Therapeutics AG was among the twelve startups shortlisted for ZKB Pionierpreis, one of the most important innovation awards for start-ups in Switzerland. Read more.

09/2021
Second place at IFAS Innovation Challenge 2021

MUVON is selected as one of twelve finalists for 2021's IFAS Innovation Challenge and gets second in the final pitching round.

10/2022
Start of Phase II clinical trial

Phase II clinical trial started. Read more.

06/2021
Selected for the Venture Leaders MedTech 2021

MUVON Therapeutics AG is one of the ten startups that is part of the first Venture Leaders MedTech program. Read more

09/2022
Phase I clinical trial completion

Successful Phase I clinical study announced using a novel regenerative cell therapy. Read more.

04/2021
Finalist at >>venture>> competition 2021

MUVON is selected as a finalist in the Health and Nutrition vertical of the 2021 >>venture>> startup competition. Read more.

04/2021
Selected for the Tech4Eva accelerator program

MUVON Therapeutics AG is selected as one of 30 startups and projects to join Switzerlands first FemTech acclerator program. Read more.

04/2021
Wyss Zurich admission

MUVON is accepted as full project at Wyss Zurich.

10/2020
MUVON Therapeutics AG incorporation

The UZH spin-off is incorporated under the name MUVON Therapeutics AG.

12/2019
Start Phase I clinical trial

The project starts with the Phase I clinical trial

03/2018
Associate Project at Wyss Zurich

The project MUS.I.C. joins Wyss Zurich as an Associate Project with limited support. 

Core Team

Deana mohr portrait

Deana Mohr

Project Leader and Co-Founder

Steve kappenthuler portrait

Steve Kappenthuler

Business Development Head and Co-Founder

Jenny prange portrait

Jenny Prange

Production Team Leader and Co-Founder

Do you have a breakthrough project you want us to know about?

We invite you to contact the Wyss Zurich office to discuss your project and start the evaluation process.